Arnarvatn
Arnarvatn is a saga landscape linked to Reykdæla saga og Víga-Skútu, where Þorbergur learns of events connected with Mývatn or perhaps Arnarvatn and immediately goes to his ship, inviting the Austmenn to join him, turning the lakeside setting into part of a moment of swift decision and movement and showing how real places in northern Iceland were woven directly into the journeys, alliances, and unfolding tensions preserved in the medieval sagas.
Arnarvatn appears in Reykdæla saga og Víga-Skútu in a short but vivid passage that places it directly within the movement of people and events in northern Iceland. The saga says that Þorbergur learned of what was happening at Mývatn — or, as the text suggests, perhaps more precisely at Arnarvatn — and reacted immediately.\n\nThere is no hesitation in the account. As soon as Þorbergur becomes aware of the situation, he goes straight to his ship and calls the Austmenn to join him. The Austmenn, literally “men from the east,” would have been Norwegian or other Scandinavian travellers or merchants present in Iceland, and their involvement hints at the wider world that was connected to these inland communities through travel, trade, and personal alliances.\n\nThe passage is brief, but it shows how quickly information could set people in motion during the Saga Age. News travelled from farm to farm and across regions, and decisions often had to be made at once. Arnarvatn therefore becomes part of a moment of urgency: a place associated not with stillness, but with action, gathering companions, and preparing to move.\n\nThe mention of a ship is also striking in connection with an inland landscape. It reminds us that saga geography can be complex, and that routes involving lakes, rivers, coastal access, and overland travel were all part of how people moved through Iceland. The exact geography behind the passage may not always be obvious to a modern reader, but for the saga audience, names such as Mývatn and Arnarvatn would have anchored the story in a familiar world.\n\nToday, Arnarvatn survives as more than a name on a map. Through Reykdæla saga og Víga-Skútu, it remains tied to a specific moment when Þorbergur receives news, heads immediately for his vessel, and summons companions to his side — a small but revealing glimpse into the urgency, mobility, and social networks of Iceland’s Saga Age.